Coach Flip Naumburg's Journal

Monday, August 15, 2005

MORE THOUGHTS ABOUT OFFENSE –

THE WIZARD OF ODDS?

Offensive success as a team in lacrosse takes some BRAIN (patience, vision, and the ability to "read"), some HEART (passion to search for the vision) and some COURAGE (focus on the vision no matter what chaos surrounds you). 

A further necessary ingredient for making it to the pot of gold (frozen goalden moment) is a dash of creativity to make it (Ozfensive lacrosse) all come together.  At least that is part of my plan (vision).

However done, the object remains constant: make the moment somehow become the ball hitting the net behind the opposing goalie.  There are many ways to do this.  I am happy to partake in any and all of those possibilities.

HEAD START PROGRAM

The offense in lacrosse has a great opportunity to overmatch the defense.  It is somewhat the nature of the game with all the fancy stick work, a small, very hard ball, and a relatively large goal to be shot at.  A goalie can be fabulous and give up 15 goals or whatever.  As far as scoring goes, the game can in many ways be more like basketball than it is like soccer or the soon-to-be "old" game of hockey.  Hockey is about to be overhauled, but that is another story.

Professional outdoor Summer (MLL) lacrosse nowadays almost makes it appear that no one is really trying to play defense, but indeed they must be.  Great skill is often hard to stop, especially if you try to defend it in a mano a mano or match-up fashion. 

MANO A MANO

One on one lacrosse where one guy vs. one guy go at it is still real big in lacrosse.  Taking advantage of high percentage match-ups is a great way to score or at least create scoring chances in the modern game.  Unassisted goals are often more the norm than the exception, but truthfully I have never really approached coaching this way.  Your really skilled guys are going to get their goals, and that is a good thing, but it can never be the ONLY thing.

"YOU'VE GOT A SHORTIE" – cry heard on lax fields everywhere -

In one-on-one lacrosse, the widely prevailing thought is that the player with the ball can supposedly beat "any" short stick defender, and therefore he should always look for a dodge in this situation.  I'm okay with this concept, but I do not ever obsess about getting match-ups.  It takes too much team energy.  When things present themselves, I want us to act on them, and things do tend to present themselves when you play a certain way which includes to never stop moving and looking.

THE ARTFUL DODGER –

I do not force people to dodge, but I will say that when the game is intense I want the guys who like to and are capable of dodging to be in the game.  I don't want anyone running away from the action when the heat is on.

WHAT'S THE PLAN, COACH?

A big part of offensive production in my "scheme" is getting shooters to good shooting spots.  The more accomplished a player is offensively, the more ways and places he can score from of course, but most of them have one or two spots that, when they get shots from that or those places, have a much greater chance of "finding rope".  I encourage players on offense to know and understand where those places are for them as individuals.  It is important that I learn to recognize same. 

I want them to clue in to when they are in those primary shooting spots or zones as if it were second nature.  They need to know how much time they have while in that place, too, and work on ways to expand that time by how they move, how they think, and how they time things.  Once in a while they have more time than they think or imagine, and more often it is less, but either way they must develop an ability to "slow things down" in their mind in order to make finishing a play more of a possibility.  This is done by practice and repetition.  All of the God given talent in the world cannot do this for you.

TO RUN PLAYS, OR NOT TO RUN PLAYS – THAT IS THE QUESTION

I don't run a lot of "plays" per say, where YOU go here and draw a slide, or YOU run there and set a pick, and blah, blah.  I find that consistent execution comes from running drills, and not specific plays that have a particular script.  I want them to approach playing as something fresh and not something they are trying to live up to that happens in a script.  Plays often work with certain finite groups or whatever when they tune in to one another and get something going, and we do use them some, but playing together with certain basic commandments is where all ball choice things come from for me.

I like organized offensive motion based on fundamentals we work on every day in practice. These kinds of actions can hopefully create some sort of minor defensive chaos for us to read and exploit or at least read and attack.  If you move ball and men efficiently on offense, the defense will not like it, and they will somehow screw up for you enough to give you opportunity.  At least that is my theory.

I.T.O. – INTIAL TEAM OFFERING 

Players must learn or remember the true value of each ball possession.  By understanding the true value of having the ball they will make better choices at critical times. I believe this right down to my toes. Fall ball is the time to instill and install concepts like this.

WAX ON, WAX OFF = WARM UP GOALIE CORRECTLY ROOKIESAN

At this point in our program's history, the daily task of goalie warming up is no small one.  We are in a goalie glut.  They all must be worked daily, the whole stable full.

I still warm up goalies, but two is a big day for me. I use assistants and also other players. When guys are hurt or whatever, and if they are the least bit offensive minded, I often have them help with the warm up the goalie chores, too.  It's great for a player when done correctly. It is terrible for him and the goalie if not done "correctly".

Warming up goalies is good for players to do under only the following conditions:

1) This exercise is for the goalie.  It is not to be confused with target practice or something done for the shooter's benefit.

2) You may only teach by hitting spots with shots.  You may not ever instruct the goalie or you will be "sent back down". If you score, hit the exact same spot again and let the goalie make his adjustments.

3) You must hit the goal with monotonous regularity or you will be sent down.  You must be moving when you shoot, and you must work in a shooting arc. Accuracy is how you DON'T hurt the goalie. You must warm goalie in a certain way specified by me or Alex.

SPACES AND PLACES

I find myself as I get to be an older coach focusing on two main fields of observation and action.  On the field that thing is spacing and the distance between players at certain times and when they should do certain things to create that "perfect" space.  The other thing is only partly on the field, and it is an elusive field of endeavor, the one called psychology.  I wish I had taken psychology classes in school.  I muddle along in search of Pavlov's coaching dog.

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